Saturday, June 28, 2014

BEIJING—More than 1,200 Chinese workers trapped by the violence sweeping parts of Iraq this past week have been moved to safety in the Iraqi capital, the Chinese government said Saturday.

A statement on the Chinese foreign ministry's website said the workers, employed by China Machinery Engineering 1829.HK +0.22% Corporation, had been transferred to Baghdad from the northern city of Samarra with help from the Iraqi government and military.

Samarra, where the workers were building a fuel-oil power plant, lies in the center of the region north of Baghdad where Sunni Muslim insurgents associated with the militant group Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, or ISIS, have been battling the Iraqi army.

Chinese state media had earlier reported that a group of about 50 workers were transported out of Samarra to Baghdad by helicopter on Wednesday.

The remaining workers were transported out of Samarra by bus over the following two days, according to the state-run Xinhua news agency. It said the workers are staying in a hotel in central Baghdad and are in good condition.

As China's economic reach has expanded and Chinese companies, entrepreneurs and tourists have fanned out across the globe, they have been frequently caught in trouble spots. The workers in Samarra were among more than 100,000 Chinese working in Iraq, most of them in areas that have been unaffected by the insurgency.

"At present, the vast majority of Chinese citizens in Iraq are in safe and controlled areas," the foreign ministry statement said. The ministry, it said, is monitoring developments and "will take timely measures to guarantee the safety of Chinese workers and companies there."

China has emerged as one of Iraq's most important commercial partners. The three main state oil companies have interests in the Iraq's energy sector, which supplies some 10% of China's total imported crude, according to the latest data available from China's customs administration.

China National Petroleum Corp., the country's largest oil company by production, has interests in three Iraqi oil fields, all of which are south of the Baghdad. In Iraq's northern Kurdistan region, Sinopec Group subsidiary Addax Petroleum holds a stake in the Taq Taq oil field, about 60 kilometers north of Kirkuk. Both companies said Friday that their operations were unaffected by the violence.

Monday, June 23, 2014

Saturday, April 14, 2012

PLA Mobile Loading Dock

Thanks hmmwv for the photos and the write-up

This is a PLA mobile loading dock commissioned by Nanjing
Military Region in recent years. It offers emergency cargo and vehicle
loading/offloading capabilities to damaged friendly port or captured but
sabotaged enemy ports. Along with large pontoons they can form a field
loading dock for non-amphibious cargo ships at beach head.

Sunday, June 15, 2014

China-Defense Forum members were somewhat astounded today when pictures were released on Chinese internet forums of what is certainly a model of the first Chinese nuclear-powered aircraft carrier (CVN) on display at an official event in Zhongshan. While it being just a model might not seem that significant to many, there are telltales about the model in these pics that indicate it's genuine. In fact, it represents a final design for the new CVN has been approved by PLAN for production.

The design clarifies some previous questions: four catapults (presumably EMALS), no ski-jump, three elevators. It also appears to be a very large carrier in the NIMITZ/FORD Class displacement range.

The hull number 18 falls in line with previous expectations that the first "all-indigenous" Chinese carrier design would be nuclear-powered and is expected to be the "002 Class". As the currently in-service CV LIAONING is hull number 16, this seems to imply hull number 17 will be the 001A class, a Chinese-built KUZNETSOV-class CV.

Friday, June 13, 2014

China says willing to help Iraq in any way it canBEIJING Fri Jun 13, 2014 7:47am EDT

(Reuters)
- China said on Friday that it was watching security developments in
Iraq closely after Islamist fighters captured two more towns in a sweep
south, and offered the government in Baghdad whatever help it can give.

China
is the top foreign player in Iraq's oilfields, which are the largest in
the Middle East open to foreign investment, and has a natural interest
in the country's stability.

"China is paying close attention to
the recent security situation in Iraq and we support the Iraqi
government's efforts to maintain domestic security and stability. We
hope that Iraq can return to stability, safety and normality as early as
possible," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said.

"For a
long time, China has been giving Iraq a large amount of all sorts of
aid and is willing to give whatever help it is able to," she told a
daily news briefing without elaborating.

China had asked Iraq's
government to ensure the safety of Chinese people in the country, Hua
said, though she did not say if any there had been any effect on China's
oil interests in the country.

State-run China National Petroleum
Corporation (CNPC), China's biggest oil and gas producer, has three
projects in Iraq, in the south and southeast of the country.

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Nick Macfie)

Friday, March 13, 2009

Photos of PAP drinking their milkshake near a Chinese oil field in Iraq.

Do you think the Chinese government should express their gratitude to
the Bush administration for making the world safe for democracy?

Iraq inaugurates oil deal with China's CNPC(Adds CNPC comments)

By Ahmed Rasheedhttp://www.reuters.com/article/rbssEnergyNews/idUSLB36965920090311?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0

WASIT,
Iraq, March 11 (Reuters) - Iraq inaugurated a $3 billion oil project on
Wednesday with the Chinese National Petroleum Company (CNPC),
activating the country's first major oil deal with a foreign firm since
the fall of Saddam Hussein.

Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani
joined Chinese officials at the al-Ahdab field in south-eastern Wasit
province, which should eventually produce 110,000-130,000 barrels of oil
a day.

CNPC will operate Ahdab under a contract, initially
signed under Saddam, which the Iraqi government renegotiated last year
to gain better terms by changing it from the production-sharing
agreement reached in 1997 to a set-fee service deal.

Shahristani
pushed the button on a seismic survey of the field and said the project,
worth $3 billion, would begin drilling four appraisal wells "within
months."

"The majority of oil extracted here will be used for
export in order to add revenues to the budget," he said, adding part of
Ahdab's oil would help fuel a nearby power station.

Zhi Yulin,
CNPC's top official in Iraq, said the deal would include a total of 138
wells and that drilling rigs would reach the field in two weeks.

The
project, while modest in terms of total output, is a milestone for Iraq
as it seeks to reinvigorate its oil sector, which offers vast potential
but is hindered by the effects of years of sanctions, underinvestment
and war.

The government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki is
courting top foreign firms in two bidding rounds for long-term service
contracts for major oil and gas development fields.

It hopes
that, as violence recedes in most parts of Iraq, foreign investors will
set aside security concerns and will be drawn by the world's
third-largest proven oil reserves.

Some industry officials have
complained about the terms offered by the government, which wants
service contracts rather than the production-sharing deals oil companies
prefer.

Iraqi oil production now stands at 2.4 million barrels
per day, below levels before the U.S.-led invasion, but Shahristani
hopes to increase it to a long-term goal of 6 million bpd.

Exports, which have been slowed by technical problems, are now lower than the post-invasion peak of 2 million bpd last May.

Iraq
needs to boost exports more than ever to make up for the slump in oil
prices that has clouded its budget outlook. Iraq relies on oil for more
than 95 percent of state revenues.

CNPC, which is the parent
company of PetroChina, began construction at Ahdab in January. No
drilling has started "I have assured (CNPC) that if they are able to
accelerate execution of this project, we will give them the chance to
participate in developing other oilfields," Shahristani said.

The CNPC official said that, despite continued violence in Iraq, the company was pursuing other oil deals in Iraq.

"Security is quite challenging for us, but we see more opportunities than challenges here in Iraq," he said.

In
addition to the Ahdab deal, the government has also negotiated a
natural gas deal with Royal Dutch Shell. (Writing by Missy Ryan; Editing
by James Jukwey)

Monday, June 09, 2014

ZHURIHE, June 3 (ChinaMil) -- As an armored brigade under the Nanjing
Military Area Command (MAC) of the Chinese People's Liberation Army
(PLA) maneuvered for thousands of kilometers into the hinterland of the
grassland in northern China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, the
"Stride 2014 Zhurihe" series exercise was unveiled at the Zhurihe
Training Base under the Beijing MAC of the PLA on May 31, 2014.

In the following two months, a combined army brigade from each of the
five MACs, namely the Guangzhou MAC, the Jinan MAC, the Shenyang MAC,
the Chengdu MAC and the Lanzhou MAC, will enter the training base
successively according to the randomly selected sequence to carry out a
concentrated examination and assessment.

This series exercise
aims at providing an example and standard for the PLA to carry out
normalized actual-combat training at military base by relying on the
Zhurihe Training Base and the first professional "blue army" of the PLA
as well as through the whole-process confrontation and assessment by
centering on the combat missions of the troop units participating in the
exercise, according to the leaders from the Military Training
Department of the General Staff Headquarters (GSH) of the PLA.

At least 85 percent of the actual strength of personnel and equipment of
the troop units participating in the exercise must be assigned,
including all personnel in the key posts and all new equipment.

The exercise' directing department has classified the exercise into
four stages including maneuvering projection, battlefield maneuvering,
actual-troop confrontation and comprehensive examination with 1,062
assessment points and 65 factors and will precisely assess the overall
combat capability of the troop units based on the quantified indexes
according to a score system with 1,000 as full mark.

In
addition, the directing department also launched a series of "bans": no
strength and equipment adjustment without permission, no repeated use of
the lost forces, no entrance to the exercise field in advance to carry
out reconnaissance and survey, no change of the actual-combat system's
performance, no preplans, no deduction, and so on.

Tuesday, June 03, 2014

Saturday, August 10, 2013

Replenishment ship 889, Taihu, heads to Gulf of Aden.

Taihu only commissioned in June 2013 and now it is rushed into a foreign
deployment. It goes to show how desperate the PLAN is regarding the
need of Replenishment Tankers.

http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90786/8353801.html15th Chinese naval escort taskforce holds rally before sailing to Gulf of AdenThe
15th escort taskforce under the Navy of the Chinese People's Liberation
Army (PLAN) which will go to the Gulf of Aden and the waters off the
Somali coast to take over the escort mission from the 14th Chinese naval
escort taskforce held a rally yesterday morning at a naval port in
Zhanjiang of south China's Guangdong province.Commander
Jiang Weilie of the PLAN South China Sea Fleet chaired the meeting, and
Wang Dengping, political commissar of the South China Sea Fleet,
addressed the meeting and encouraged all the officers and men to
complete the escort mission.Jiang
Zhonghua, commander of the 15th Chinese naval escort taskforce and
director of the Armaments Department of the South China Sea Fleet, and
Liu Zhonghu, captain of the amphibious dock landing ship Jinggangshan,
delivered a speech on behalf of the taskforce and all the officers and
men respectively.The
15th Chinese naval escort taskforce is composed of the guided missile
frigate Hengshui, the amphibious dock landing ship Jinggangshan and the
comprehensive supply ship Taihu.

Guangzhou HuangPu's Milk Cow

Monday, January 14, 2013

With
impressive building speed of launch to first sea trial in just 9
months, the China navy must be needing those new milk cows bad. Don't
be surprise to see those two supporting Gulf of Aden anti piracy
operations by year end.